Hi I'm looking for advice. I'm planning a project which needs an Arduino to send midi to. Another device idependently, IE not attached to a pc .
I can see midi breakout boards on the market as well as people building devices using just a 5 pin female din attached to an Arduino. Can I do either approach?
If so are there benefits to the break out board?
Many thanks.
Serial MIDI is just async serial at a particular baud rate and you can do that with just the DIN connector. Is there some chip on the "breakout board" you mention?
Thankyou, there is a chip
The chip on the breakout board is an Opto-coupler which is used in the reception of Midi. The transmission just requires 2 x 220R Resistors, and most people tend to add a buffer (sometimes a schmitt-trigger, but since the signal generated by the Arduino is 100% digital, imo any buffer will do) like a 74HCT14 or 74HCT04 NOT-gates, where you run the output signal trough a gate twice inverting it twice. It is a lot cheaper and more flexible !
With the caveat that MIDI uses a current loop, not just high and low voltages. To be compliant, you have to use an opto-coupler.
Thank you all.
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